Brad has lectured on topics musical, operatic, symphonic all over Southern California. These are multi-media presentations, richly illustrated with rare historical video. The topics include:
Bernstein on Broadway
A "guided tour" through Leonard Bernstein's legacy on the Great White Way, including "On The Town," "Wonderful Town," "Candide," and of course, "West Side Story." This is an exciting, fast-paced visit with the Broadway music of America's own Wunderkind.
Four Jewish Composers in America
This is a moving tribute to Gustav Mahler, who came over from Europe and was music director of the New York Philharmonic and also conducted at the Metropolitan Opera; George Gershwin, the one-of-kind songwriter who graced stage and screen with his brilliant melodies and harmonies; Aaron Copland, the "dean" of American music whose Lincoln Portrait and Fanfare for the Common Man established him as a musical patriot, and whose ballet scores seemed to capture the "American" sound; and Leonard Bernstein: composer, pianist, teacher, conductor extraordinaire, who deeply influenced everyone whose lives he touched.
Ode to Freedom
Beethoven's final symphony, originally named "Ode to Joy" based on the poem by Schiller that he used in the final movement, took on a greater historical impact in a very special performance in 1989 as the Berlin Wall was coming down. Leonard Bernstein gathered musicians from East and West Germany, and from the Allies: U.S., Britain, France, and Russia, and led a performance of this greatest of all symphonies, in which, "under the authority of the moment" Bernstein changed the word "Freude" (joy) to "Freiheit" (freedom). This event, captured on dvd, is an extraordinary concert that we will see and hear in this stunning presentation.
Class, Race and Politics in Opera: Figaro, Otello, Tosca
This lecture examines the explosive and divisive aspects of social class distinction, racial tensions, and political intrigue in Western Society. Participants will discover how these seemingly large issues impact personal relationships and individual lives. We explore: Mozart's MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, and see how and why this "people's opera" impacted and inspired the French people as it did, and brought the monarchy to its knees, just as Mozart's Count Almaviva falls to his knees in the final scene of the opera; Verdi's OTELLO, in which interracial marriage lays the groundwork for a one of the most tragic betrayals in all of theater; and Puccini's TOSCA, in which the composer starts with a historically accurate political struggle, adds a passionate love story, triple deception, violence, torture, and murder and creates a dramatic tour-de-force that is spine-tingling in its tragic conclusion. All of these operas will be viewed in part in videos with English subtitles. By the end of the lecture, we will all come to understand how global issues can deeply affect individual lives on an intimate level.
To book any of these multi-media lecture presentations, contact Brad at 310.826.6958 or bradkeimach@gmail.com